WeChat had the power to nudge hundreds of millions of Chinese into O2O purchases and to pick winners among the competing startups. WeChat Wallet linked up with top O2O startups so that WeChat users could hail a taxi, order a meal, book a hotel, manage a phone bill, and buy a flight to the United States, all without ever leaving the app. (Not coincidentally, most of the startups WeChat picked to feature in its Wallet were also the recipients of Tencent investments.)
